Image Source: Nationalmultimedia
Sony Japan (Click here) latest press release confirms that the flood in Thailand caused the full camera production stop. The NEX-7, the A65 and the new NEX-C3 and NEX-5n double kit packages will no more released on November 11. Sony could not say at this time when the mentioned cameras will be start shipping. The good news here is that that Sony has already plenty of [shoplink 8461]Sony A77[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink] stocks. And the lens production is also not affected by the flood.
Here are the links of the new products that will be on sale without any delay:
A77 at [shopcountry 8461]
Sony NEX-5n [shopcountry 8452].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8448].
Sony 55-210mm [shopcountry 8444].
NEX-5n viewfinder [shopcountry 9110].
44 Responses
Dang. Looks like I’ll be using my old Olympus for a little longer. There’s no way they’d ditch entire product lines after investing in their development. Looks like my pre-order definitely won’t get fulfilled for a few months at the shortest.
Looks like Nikon have copped a bollocking as well with these floods.
You’re right. Nikon are also having a headache with limited supply of D7000 in the coming Christmas…
It’s a secret Christmas time conspiracy from Canon to disrupt competing camera makers sales. I know it.
Get your tinfoil hats out folks 😛
Mine never leaves my head.
“And the lens production is also not affected by the flood.”
So, Sony does have a lens production after all? 😉
Floods don’t stop them showing lenses at trade shows and then infinitely delay releasing them.
hi Carl 😀 how are you?
I’m splendid. How about you?
Nice to have A77 before this happen. I hope Thai flood will ease very soon.
good!…I will wait for the A99
Any news on the Zeiss 24f18 for E-mount ?
Wow that sucks. Poor Thailand. I know several people there and I have visited several times. I hope they recover soon and their economy recovers too. It’s such bad luck and they don’t deserve this.
It’s frustrating that we don’t get our toys for Christmas. And I’m sure it will hurt Sony bottom line not selling a ton of cameras at Christmas. But all will be good soon. They will recover, and those cameras plus lots of new toys will be around at the start of next year.
Right now our thoughts should be with people in Thailand. They’re a good country with a production and export based economy and their people have a good work ethic. They will recover, no doubt.
Admin,
your mean ‘plenty’ is ho many? 100k? 20k? 😀
Admin
Nex VG 20? Do you know news?!
The a65 is on stock in many onlineshops in Switzerland. It seems that they shipped some units to europe last days…
Small online shops showing ‘in stock’ is hardly trustworthy information.
Sonystyle.ca shows it is in stock, but I gave my heart to nex7.
digitec is not a small online shop 😉 and they have some stores where you can get the a65 tomorrow, when you order it now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15380718
”
Sony said it was working towards restoring its production facilities.
“It is difficult for us to say at this time when production will re-start in Thailand,” George Boyd, a spokesman for Sony, told the BBC.
“However, we are taking measures to move production to our third factory in Thailand which is operational and also to other sites,” he added.
The products were supposed to go on sale in November.
”
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/242211/sony_delays_new_camera_launch_due_to_thai_flooding.html
“Sony is currently shifting production to another unaffected factory in Thailand that normally makes car audio products, but there is no set date when production will start up again,” spokesman Yasuhiro Okada said.
I understand that being new to this blog no one calculates. but there is a good soul who can give me information on the availability of Nex vg20? Thank you in advance.
Sony camcorders are made in Japan so they should not be affected by Thailand floods.
thanks so much for the information.
A77 has been pulled from general searching on Amazon US – the page can only accessed through my orders and is saying “Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available” and in my orders page: “We’ll notify you via e-mail as soon as we have an estimated delivery date. You can cancel at any time”. I wish someone could find out what is really going on regarding A77 availability in the US outside the few initial Sony Style pre-orders that are currently shipping! And Sony Style is not taking any new orders or pre-orders.
+1!
I pre-orderded my a77 from amazon the first day it became available to pre-order, and i see the same message. I wish we had more information. When will my a77 ship, this month, next month, 2011?
Of course I know in the grand scheme of things a month or two delay in receiving my new toy is no big deal (talk about your 1st world problems), but man, I was really hoping they’d at least be able to ship out a few for those of us that pre-ordered the day/week of the announcement.
This could be a good thing for Panasonic since they are rumored to be announcing their competitor to the NEX-7 very soon.
Yeah. I mean, I know hundreds are dead, the homes and livelihoods of thousands destroyed, and a national crisis unfolding before our eyes, in a country that has seen its fair share of tragedies the last decade, but damn, why can’t I get my shiny new toy for Christmas. Right? So unfair.
Tell that to nature. Life’s unfair. I want one too.
That’s why you make factories in Indonesia, come to Indonesia Sony… =) We have cheap labors to offer… =p
But too many layers of corruption to go through..
The words “no prospect of recovery” sound terribly. To refurbish such a factory and bring it to the necessary standard of perfection is an incredible task. It could mean a delay in order of years, not only months if not transferred to another site
That’s what I’m predicting too. Let’s hope Sony does well to get a working site up and running. Both for the market and their employees to recover their lives.
I agree. I feel that this isn’t a matter of a couple of months. The production machinery may be heavily damaged. Even if the production equipment is in working order it may have to be moved to another facility which can’t be done until the primary facility can be accessed. And of course it will take time to get the new facility up and running (both equipment and workers). I am really worried about the initial and ongoing QC aspects of this.
I wonder if any of the manufactured units can be recovered. To tell you the truth I am not sure I want a unit that has been sitting in a flooded factory.
“the global launch of its NEX-7 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera would be delayed indefinitely”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/20/thailand-floods-japan-idUSL3E7LK0K320111020
Separately, Sony, the world’s second-largest maker of digital cameras after Canon Inc , said the global launch of its NEX-7 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera would be delayed indefinitely from the previous date of Nov. 11, while the Japanese launch of the Alpha 65 model would also be delayed.
Sony’s Thai camera factory, one of three plants it has in the country, is flooded, while production has been stopped at its Thai semiconductor plant due to supply shortages, the company said.
Sony has decided to produce Cybershot compact cameras at other factories in Japan and China and is considering switching Alpha 65 production to a car audio plant in Thailand, which is currently operating as normal, a spokesman said.
Good news. If they have those sort of consumer electronics facilities still operating, then it should only take “months” and not “years” to re-establish limited production.
That’s funny, the NEX-7 is starting to resemble the X100 in more ways than one. 😀
Sony HK also issued an official letter stating the delay of NEX7, A65 and all their new headphone series that was recently announced. They even cancelled the original NEX7 hand on session that was planned for last weekend… Unfortunate!
Quick news update:
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Science%2Band%2BTech/Story/A1Story20111020-306169.html
Man… I’m seeing hundreds of submerged NEX-7’s floating around aimlessly in an underwater factory. And hundreds of lonely Zeiss 24mm f1.8 lenses that will never be married to them.
Not good. Hope they survive this tragedy.
I had an a65 in my hands not 3 days ago. Sadly I had to return it due to the microphone not working. It was fun to play with it for the 2 days before I noticed though. Now it is back-ordered, but Sony.ca is still saying they’re shipping, so based on that and already having had the camera in my hands, I’m going to assume the wait won’t be nearly as long for those of us who have already put our orders in.
so sorry for the people that use to work there, they get paid very low, must be very hard for them at this moment they do not get unemployment or stuff like that over there.
Looks like there is a chance some of us Yanks will still get our cameras.
Here is a statement from SONY USA:
“Operations of our factory in Thailand have been temporarily suspended due to flooding, supply chain and transportation difficulties. The flooding at the STT-A [Sony Technology Thailand – Ayutthaya ] factory, which manufactures Alpha / NEX camera bodies and interchangeable lenses, began on October 14th, and some equipment has been partially damaged. We’re currently investigating the impact to overall supply chain and future product launch timing.”
Source: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1110/11102020sonyflooding.asp
I live in Thailand and news this evening showed a brief sequence shot outside the Sony camera factory. I tell you, when they say in their press release they have “some equipment damage” what they meant to say was that the whole factory sits submerged in about 3-4 feet of water. Did not look good at all.
Nikon Posts Second Thailand Flood Damage Notice :
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/News/News-Post.aspx?News=1332
Was going to buy the A65. Now with this natural disaster and new design, I dont trust the what will come off the new production line i.e. distraught QA workers, damaged tooling. I will get the D7000 instead.
I don’t think that they would use damaged tooling, and I doubt that there will be distraught QA workers as they will hopefully be happy to just regain their livelyhoods back.
I do think that the a65 will not get to see the light of 2011, more betting on a 2012 release.
Maybe this will allow Sony to make some additional changes that will be a bonus.. who knows. I just hope this “natural disaster” bad luck ends soon and that everyone recovers from it all.
As, yes, I want my new camera *pouts at the thought of waiting*.